2 comments:

BobSykes
said...

What is interesting about the B1G and the Pac12 is that the states making up those conferences were able to create world class institutions. By comparison, the people of New York and New England couldn't; their public universities, with a few exceptions (SUNY Buffalo) are decidedly inferior. It must be something in the culture, perhaps the presence of very old private schools for the Ruling Class. Growing up in Boston, I can remember Governor Peabody* saying that UMass was for kids who couldn't get into college.

That attitude seeps down into the common population, which cannot conceive of elite public schools. When I got my job at Ohio State (We crushed you and will crush Wisky.), my mother was embarrassed and keep sending me job ads, usually for inferior privates schools.

*Question: What three towns are named after our Governor? Answer: Peabody, Marblehead and Athol.